Evil Narrators

[Robbert Raets]

Originally posted by Vaebn
Let battle commence. Two ships each, maximum of 5000 SUs. I have an Akira and a Defiant whilst he has chosen the Prometheus and a Defiant.
I have spoken to the other players in the group, some do have a problem with his behaviour but would not be willing to leave the group. The Narrator, of course, did not agree there was a problem and got quite angry.
In the true spirit of Star Trek, I will not fire the first shot

Is that the Akira with fully loaded forward fighter bay? If so, by-by Prometheus..... Good luck to you, Vaebn.

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

We've never had permanent problems with "bad" narrators in my experience, when someone was "ill chosen" for the job playing was just put off until someone setup a new campaign in whichever RPG we were playing at the time. All of us have at least narrated once and some are better than others...its just the way it is.

If you feel that winning will not accomplish anything then since you have two ships, speed up to full impulse, set an intercept course and ram his ass before he goes into the seperation mode.
OR
Go for the soft approach, inform him after a heated fight through the captain's hails that you are willing to surrender your ship to save your crew. I think this is pretty much the grandest thing a captain can do.

On the other hand I'd take the Klingon approach and sock him one...

[Vaebn]

Is that the Akira with fully loaded forward fighter bay? If so, by-by Prometheus..... Good luck to you, Vaebn.

I wish He has "allowed" me to have 10 fighters. Im not worried though. It'll probably be an Akira Vs Prometheus match, Im setting my Defiant on his. I will only use the fighters if the Prometheus separates or if my Defiant is getting badly beaten.
I dont suppose anyone knows if a tractor beam would prevent the ship from using the MVAM?

[ghosty]

Originally posted by Vaebn
Let battle commence. Two ships each, maximum of 5000 SUs. I have an Akira and a Defiant whilst he has chosen the Prometheus and a Defiant.
I have spoken to the other players in the group, some do have a problem with his behaviour but would not be willing to leave the group. The Narrator, of course, did not agree there was a problem and got quite angry.
In the true spirit of Star Trek, I will not fire the first shot

I don't know, sounds a bit childish to me. Its like a fist fight in the playground after school IMHO. It'll prove who's tougher but will it end your problems with the GM...I think not. Either way one of you has to to go and I think it may well be the looser of this grudge match that you've set up.

[Vaebn]

I agree. It is very childish. I see no other alternative however. He was ruining an enjoyable game, breaking the no. 1 commandment of RPGing. Hopefully this will force him to resign as GM and allow a more mature approach to be adopted towards games.

[ghosty]

You could have forced him out by leading a player's boycott as we've been suggesting. This "I'm tougher than you" rumble just doesn't seem to be the way to go...it'll leave more bad feeling than it should.

[Liquidator Queeg]

Originally posted by Vaebn
Let battle commence ... In the true spirit of Star Trek, I will not fire the first shot

Screw him. Blast that son of a @!#$& out of the stars! Don't be an honourable Trek captain, as obviously this buttwad Narrator doesn't understand anything about the spirit of Trek. Force feed him fiery hot burning DEATH!!!

YEEAAHHHH BABY!

Steve
Always the diplomat...

[Robbert Raets]

And if he should gain the upper hand, think of your Crew and valiantly attack in the opposite direction!

[Lancer]

Originally posted by ghosty
You could have forced him out by leading a player's boycott as we've been suggesting. This "I'm tougher than you" rumble just doesn't seem to be the way to go...it'll leave more bad feeling than it should.

Agreed. This just doesn't feel right to me as well.

But if you have no other alternatives then go ahead and blast him out of the sky!

[ghosty]

Since I haven't made any progress talking you out of this, all I can say is 'Lets get ready to rumbleeeeee!!!!!!!"

[Captain Zymmer]

So when does the throw down happen?

Updates my man, updates!

[Vaebn]

Not much has happened recently. The date has been set for this Sat. Im actually having second thoughts about this whole thing.

You could have forced him out by leading a player's boycott as we've been suggesting.

I tried. The other players agreed that we should go ahead with the battle. (I think they are secretly placing bets on the outcome). He only has a problem with me, not anyone else in the group.
The stakes have been lowered slightly though. We have agreed that neither of us has to leave. The outcome only decides if the current GM stays or we vote for another one to replace him. It feels much better now one of us won't have to depart. I don't think there are too many RPG groups around here...

[Captain Zymmer]

OKay lay out the fight here and ask some of these Spacedock veterns for input, tactics, strategies, etc...

Come on guys, we have to help this guy out and I don't know nothing about spacedock!

[Dan Stack]

I finally figured out what I dislike about this whole setup. (This is just as a normal dude, not as a moderator.)

It doesn't do you or your narrator or your group any good.

Let us assume it shows who the better captain is (which it really doesn't, but let us run with that idea). Suppose your narrator wins and that does "prove" he is capable of playing the better Starfleet captain. So what?

Assume your narrator is a better captain. Maybe he knows every episode of Trek by heart and can roleplay a captain a zillion times better than all the good qualities of Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer combined? Even if that is the case, the problem isn't he is better than you, the problem is he is banging you over the head with it.

A similar example - suppose the best basketball player in the world is a coach. Does that mean he's a good coach? Not if all he does is watch you play and tell you how he could do better. He must teach you.

In gaming, it doesn't matter if the narrator/gamemaster/etc. could do a better job playing (which is essentially his argument). His job is not to figure a way out of all the puzzles he sets up. His job is to setup an enjoyable game and then run an enjoyable game.

I don't know if I'm making sense. In my opinion, you are arguing over the wrong thing - "who is a better captain?" It doesn't matter. That's not the narrator's job to be a better player than you. If I were in this group and I wanted to make it work as a group, I would just agree with the narrator - "yes, you are better than all of us combined. But we'll never learn to be nearly as good as you if you keep beating us up. Let us play. Let us have fun. And teach us oh great one how to be as good a captain as you."

Now I'm not in your group so I'm not saying you haven't tried that - it sounds like you have. I'm more expressing my own dislike of the situation.

[Lancer]

Originally posted by Dan Stack
I don't know if I'm making sense. In my opinion, you are arguing over the wrong thing - "who is a better captain?" It doesn't matter. That's not the narrator's job to be a better player than you

Actually you are making one heck of a lot of sense Dan !

I have to thank you for putting this into words, as it fits what I have been feeling about the whole situation, but I had difficulties figuring it out myself. I think a reminder that we are all into this for the fun of it was just what this topic needed.


Vaebn:
Listen to this man. He knows what he's talking about.

If you can't bring this up before the big fight, at least take the opportunity afterwards to ask everyone: "Was that fun for you?" and if they agree you got a good 'hook' to bring up this topic. Hey, if they think it wasn't fun you got an even better opportunity to remind them what RPGs are about in the first place.

The fun is out there somewhere. All you have to do is find it.